The Real Lincoln Thomas Delorenzo Summary

Thomas DiLorenzo’s purpose in writing The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War is to portray the idea of a different side of one of America’s greatest presidents. Abraham Lincoln is indeed one of the most written about “American political figure[s]” (1). However, The Real Lincoln is devoted to revealing the true mindset and agenda of Abraham Lincoln during his time of presidency. DiLorenzo, in one single book, undermines the political choices and strategies of Abraham Lincoln. He challenges the decisions Lincoln made; specifically stating that Lincoln “could have ended slavery just as dozens of other countries in the world did” (4). The author, Thomas DiLorenzo, grew up in Pennsylvania. He received a bachelor of arts in economics from Westminster College in Pennsylvania. Soon after, he continued on to receive a Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech. Following after that, he proceeded to teach at the State University of New York at Buffalo, George Mason University, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. As

DiLorenzo evidently proves to find more faults in Abraham Lincoln and his decision process while he was president. Therefore, he wrote this book for one purpose. And that was to “cure the selective amnesia Lincoln’s defenders have promoted” (Ewers). This book promptly gives evidence throughout it to prove all of DiLorenzo’s statements about Lincoln. However, DiLorenzo failed to ever mention the opposing views. Although DiLorenzo may not have complied with Lincoln that still did not take away from the kind of leader Lincoln was. No matter what was thrown his way during his presidency, “Lincoln rose above his shortcomings and tackled, head on, the most challenging issue of his day” (Gamble). Without mentioning Lincoln’s strong points as well as his weak, DiLorenzo’s book has a lower qualification as a book of research and more of